ETF Spotlight: PowerShares India Portfolio (PIN)

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ETF Spotlight on PowerShares India Portfolio (NYSEArca: PIN), part of a weekly series.

Assets: $482 million

Objective: Tracks the Indus India Index, an index of 50 companies designed to represent the total Indian equity markets.

Holdings: Top holdings include Reliance Industries, Infosys Technologies, Indian Oil Corp. and Reliance Communications

What You Should Know

• The top-weighted sector in PIN is energy, with 27.7% of the weighting. Other major sectors include information technology (15.2%), financials (13.8%) and utilities (11.4%).
• The fund is nearly entirely composed of large-cap companies, although mid-caps make up 1.3%.
• PIN has an expense ratio of 0.78%.

The Latest News

• India’s stock market and PIN are at two-year highs
• Industrial output, which grew 13.8% in July, is a major factor for growth in India. The double-digit output growth was much higher than the single-digit growth previously expected.
• It’s predicted that the country’s annual economic growth may top 9% in the next five years, which would make the country the world’s fastest-growing major economy. India’s economy expanded 8.8% in the second quarter year-over-year. [Agriculture Sector Threatens India ETFs.]
• India is seen as the only economy in Asia driven by domestic demand. India’s export gains fell more than 50% in July to 13.2% from the previous month. [Best ETFs to Play India.]
• The Reserve Bank of India is reducing its credit-tightening policies as inflation abates and companies signal a peak in short-term borrowing costs. The Central Bank estimates that inflation will drop to 6% by March 31, compared to an average 10.5% in the first seven months of the year. Bond yields have widened to 0.63% against swap rates since February.

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